Driving out past Mundaring last Sunday I nearly missed the turn because the roadside verge had gone solid pink with everlastings overnight. That's the thing about spring here, it can turn a scrubby bit of road reserve into something worth pulling over for, and most years I forget how quickly it happens until I'm standing in it again. If you're wondering where to see wildflowers around Perth this year, the honest answer is you've got more choice than you'd think, from a five minute drive to a proper weekend away.

Why spring in WA gets people so worked up about flowers

Western Australia holds one of the richest concentrations of flowering plant species anywhere in the country, and a decent chunk of what grows here doesn't grow anywhere else. The WA Dept. of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions manages a lot of the bushland where the real show happens, banksia woodland, kwongan heath, the lot, and their seasonal updates are worth a look before you head out because flowering times shift a couple of weeks either way depending on rainfall.

Growing up we'd load into Dad's old ute most Septembers and drive out toward Serpentine for a picnic among the kangaroo paw and cowslip orchids. My brother still does the same drive with his own kids now, more or less the same spot, give or take a fence line that's moved. It's a small thing but it's stuck with me, that sense that the flowers turn up in roughly the same paddocks every year whether anyone's watching or not.

Kings Park is the easy start, but not the whole story

If you're new to Perth or just short on time, Kings Park is genuinely the simplest place to start. Botanic Garden pathways are flat, well signed, and close enough to the city that you can do it before lunch. The Pedals & Petals - Discovering Wildflowers Bike Tour Kings Park is a good option if you want someone pointing things out rather than guessing at plant names off a phone app, and it covers more ground than you'd manage on foot in the same time.

Here's my one gripe though, and it's a mild one. Kings Park during the festival weeks gets flat out busy, prams and tour buses and everyone angling for the same photo near the same patch of everlastings. It's fine. It's just not, in my view, the best version of a WA wildflower experience going. I'd rather potter along a quiet track with nobody else on it, even if the display's a bit more modest. Locals I know feel the same way, and I reckon their right to.

Getting further out along the G2G

For something with a bit more space around it, sections of the G2G walk pass through banksia and jarrah country that flowers up nicely from August through into November. It's part of a broader network the Bibbulmun Track Foundation helps look after, and the volunteers who maintain those sections know the timing better than most, since they're out there checking waymarkers year round anyway.

You don't need to do the whole thing in one hit. Pick a section, take a thermos, and go slow. That's where the good stuff is anyway, not rushing past it at pace.

Scott Road's quieter show

The Scott Road walk is the one I send people to when they say they've already done Kings Park and want something less crowded. It's not flashy, there's no visitor centre or gift shop, just heaps of ground orchids and smoke bush if you're there at the right time and know to look down as much as up. Bring proper walking shoes because parts of it get a bit uneven after rain, which spring in Perth tends to deliver in fits and starts.

If you've got a weekend spare, go further

And if you can stretch to a longer trip, Esperance puts on one of the better wildflower seasons in the state, helped along by a run of national parks and reserves that DBCA manages down that way. The coastal heath there flowers differently to the jarrah forest around Perth, more low scrubby stuff with those brilliant reds and yellows against white sand, and it's worth the drive if wildflowers are the whole point of your trip rather than a nice add-on.

Practical bits worth knowing before you go

A few things I get asked about most weeks through spring.

  • Entry to national parks in WA generally requires a park pass, with fees set under the framework of the CALM Act, so check before you turn up expecting free entry everywhere.
  • Flowering peaks move around with rainfall, so a spot that's spectacular one September might be a fortnight later or earlier the next year.
  • Stick to marked paths. A lot of the rarer species are small, easy to miss underfoot, and slow to recover if trampled.
  • Photograph rather than pick. It sounds obvious but I still see people yanking stems out of the ground near car parks.

None of this is complicated, it's mostly just about timing your trip and picking a spot that suits how much walking you actually want to do. Some years I get out to three or four different patches, other years work gets in the way and I make do with whatever's flowering along the verge on my own street. Either way, spring here is worth building a weekend or two around, even if it's just an hour at Kings Park with a coffee afterwards down on Broadway.